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It seems that for the past year everytime I come on city data it seems that someone has a thread comparing their city to Charlotte and 9 times out of 10 Charlotte seems to get a negative rep. I personally am tired of this as I am sure many Charlotte natives and residents who are on this forum are. it seems that there are a lot of people who know absolutely nothing about Charlotte(except what they read) then make erroneaus comments. Or people who have not visited the city since the early '90s and make assumptions based on what they saw 20 years ago. Charlotte has a vast amount of amenities(attractions, shopping, music, poetry, rec) and businesses other than banking( only accounts for 10% of Charlottes' GDP) that tend to get overlooked. How do yall feel?
I feel that even though I come in this forum from my regular ones to have fun with the occasional debate, for the most part this forum seems to be made up of people who are "Geeks" when it comes to cities and development. So many of them come from small towns or even bigger towns that they have never ventured out of much, if at all. Charlotte has come a long way in the last decade, while still maintaining control and that "small" feel to the city as a whole. Several F500 companies have relocated here, the ones that are already here continue to grow; the city has implemented agressive transit projects that include light rail and street cars; they are improving greenways, etc etc etc. These things contributed to me making the decision to move here 5 years ago. I have made good friends and have found great opportunities in the area. The people who may "bash" Charlotte are obviously lost, or have an agenda against a city they have no clue about. In the end, there is no reason to get upset over something that a few people say on an internet forum while they struggle to have real interests in life. No disrespect, but that is the vibe I get constantly. Besides, it is funny to see the way many of them see their own respective cities.
The same can be stated about the Minneapolis area as well as many others. Most people on this site have no idea what they are talking about and it boils down to complete ignorance or jealousy. I've actually started to find it rather amusing. With that said, let them bash away.
It seems that for the past year everytime I come on city data it seems that someone has a thread comparing their city to Charlotte and 9 times out of 10 Charlotte seems to get a negative rep.
Really? I see the exact opposite. Most of the recent threads here comparing Charlotte to other cities actually speak pretty favorably about Charlotte:
The only exception recently would be the Atlanta/Charlotte thread.
If you want to see cities that TRULY get ragged on, check out the Atlanta, Houston, and Dallas threads. They are MUCH more plentiful and harsher. Honestly, Charlotte really gets very little play here, but just by your starting this thread, unfortunately you've probably created a self-fulfilling prophecy.
It's not that serious at all. You probably only notice the threads with "Charlotte" in it, but if you want to see cities that TRULY get ragged on, check out the Atlanta, Houston, and Dallas threads. They are MUCH more plentiful and harsher. Charlotte really gets very little play here, but just by your starting this thread, unfortunately you've probably created a self-fulfilling prophecy.
I was about to mention that as well. You notice your city the most because you're from there or live there when in fact plenty of other cities are getting bashed daily on this forum. In other words, you're not alone on how you feel. That's why so many threads have all these people defending their city, because they thinks it's misunderstood. But I don't think Charlotte is bashed much at all on here. Seems well liked.
You're the only one who notices this to an extreme because it's your city. A lot of cities are bashed out of ignorance on this site, some people even love to hate on places to tick other people off. Charlotte?...I can name 15 other cities that are routinely bashed even more.
Charlotte is only bashed when it is put next to Atlanta. Other than that it is usually mentioned in a positive light unless it's brought into a north vs south argument.
I do agree that it's funny to see how people feel view their own city and their reaction when they realize that the outside world sees it differently.
Last edited by WestbankNOLA; 08-19-2010 at 02:13 PM..
I think that there are three sides of the coin here:
1. People who love Charlotte and are very patriotic to the city, somewhat defensive (sometimes warranted) and desire the city to be in a favorable light.
2. People who have visited, don't prefer sunbelt cities (like me) and therefore rate it negatively.
3. People who make assumptions based on what they've read and rate it negatively.
Each type of person comes in a different level of intensity, but it's to be expected. I think that the "bashing" goes all around with a few exceptions (e.g. NYC, San Fran, Boston). In any event, it's mostly composed of southern city-lovers either complaining about northern crime, density and urban blight OR by northerners complaining about southern sprawl, lack of urban qualities and chain establishments.
If I see negative commentary about Charlotte, it seems to be coming from the same posters that proffer the same treatment to other Sunbelt cities. This I am guessing is a response to their private bitterness over the major shifts in population from their region to the South and West.
BTW, the was a program last night here that featured progress on the Atlanta Beltline. It spoke at length about the Charlotte Lynx Line, which Atlanta hopes to emulate for the Beltline. Charlotte came off looking like a real star!
Open your eyes, its not just charlotte.. You can ask anyone on here, everyone thinks their city gets bashed the most on here. Even ppl from NYC think their city gets bashed.. And its true, I dont think any city has never been bashed on here.
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